Well, we’re well into summer and so far it’s looking good. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve had only a few days that were real scorchers, but July has been mostly moderately hot (glad I don’t live in the southern states). As for the stock market, its wild volatility has subsided a bit, but I don’t think we’re out of the bear market yet, especially given all the talk about an impending recession. The bumpy ride isn’t over, but there are still plenty of good dividend investing opportunities for the sharp investor.

So how did my dividend income go in June? Let’s do the numbers and see:

ARR $ 2.00
AWP $ 44.00*
BGY $ 33.80*
CIK $ 22.50
CLM $ 72.32*
DHY $ 27.13
EDF $ 15.00*
EHI $ 26.80*
EXG $103.35
HQL $157.50
NCV $ 33.15*
PFN $ 32.31
USA $ 54.00
ZTR $ 24.00*
TOTAL $647.86

* Includes Return of Capital

$647.88 isn’t exactly rolling in the big bucks (in comparison to my previous years), but it’s my best month for the quarter and so I’m pleased with this total.

Unfortunately, there was a dividend cut this month. HQL cut its dividend to $0.35/share (it was $0.39 last quarter). HQL has a long history of erratic dividend payouts, so it’s anybody’s guess as to how next quarter’s HQL dividend will play out.

Speaking of HQL, I sold off some shares of it in June (because I needed the money, of course). I first sold 15 shares at $14.38/share, then the next day sold another 10 shares at $14.415/share. Fortunately I sold my shares after the ex date, so those 25 shares counted for HQL’s June payout.

With the second quarter now done, the total dividend income for Q2 was $1739.91. In comparison, 2021’s Q2 total was $1876.57. That’s a 7.28% decline. Which isn’t surprising given the effects of dividend cuts, not buying new stocks, and the selling of stocks over the past 12 months.

So June was a pretty good month, but the third month is usually my best month of the quarter, so that’s nothing particularly special.

Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)